The present invention relates to a fluid separator, such as a separator for gases and liquids, for instance an oil/air separator for a compressed gas unit.
In conventional systems for compressing a gaseous fluid, a liquid, for example oil, finds itself added to the gaseous fluid during compression of the gaseous fluid in the compressor portion of the system. The liquid must be removed in a separating unit, prior to the compressed gaseous fluid being delivered to the consumer. Normally, a fluid separator, i.e. a gas/liquid separator, is used as a separating unit. Such a separator is connected to the compressor as part of the compressor gaseous fluid flow system. The separator usually includes a coarse separation section and a fine purification section. Both are installed in a vessel-like housing which is preferably of circular cylindrical shape. The gaseous fluid stream which enters the separator and which is to be processed, consists of a mixture of liquid and gas, a mixture of, for example, oil and air. The mixture is supplied to the inlet of the separator housing from the compressor outlet through a fluid inlet and is directed against a baffle which constitutes the coarse separation section of the separator. The bottom portion of the houisng forms a liquid collecting sump, i.e. an oil collecting sump, in which accumulates the liquid separated from the gaseous fluid in the coarse separation section and in the fine purification section disposed downstream. The coarse separation section usually consists of a circular baffle plate situated approximately in the center of the housing, whereas the fine purification section is concentrically installed above the baffle plate. The gaseous fluid processed in the separator is thereafter evacuated from the interior space of the purifying system and conducted out of the separator to the consumer.
The mixture of gaseous and liquid fluids introduced into the separator impinges upon the surface of the baffle plate of the coarse separation section and the liquid mist carried away during the compression stage is thus separated by impact from the gaseous fluid and coalesces in the form of droplets that fall down from the baffle plate into the liquid collecting sump. The gaseous fluid stream leaving the coarse separation section then rises to the fine purifying section, passes through its wall and enters the inner space of the fine purifier. In such a fluid separator the gaseous fluid stream, when rising from the coarse separating section to the fine purification section, crosses the path of the liquid separated from the gaseous fluid which is dropping to the liquid collection sump at the bottom of the separator housing.
In order to insure an adequate efficiency of separation of the liquid from the gaseous fluid, fluid separators, until now, had to have a relatively large diameter in order to reduce the velocity of the fluid stream flowing from the coarse separation section, so that the crossing streams of liquid and gaseous fluids would interfere with each other only in a way that the fluid stream rising to the fine purification section carries over as little of the already separated liquid as possible. In view of the relatively large dimensions of the fluid separator, considerable space is required, especially in comparison with the space required by the compressor itself. Moreover, the walls of the fluid separator must withstand the compression pressure of the fluid introduced from the compressor so that the fluid separator has to be constructed such as not to burst. This again results in a considerable weight of the fluid separator as well as in considerable expenditures for materials and manufacturing.